Port of Melbourne Corporation mark hazards near South Channel

Sealite Atlantic Ocean Buoys Deployed by Port of Melbourne Corporation

The Port of Melbourne Corporation has recently purchased and installed Sealite Atlantic-2600 Polyethylene Ocean Buoys to mark a potentially hazardous high sandbar near the South Channel in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, Australia.

These black and yellow 2600mm diameter cardinal marks ensure clear navigability particularly by deeper draft vessels – indicating for them to keep south of the buoys, and stay in the middle of the main channel away from the dangerous sandbar.

Cardinal marks indicate the position of a hazard and the direction to safe water (as per the IALA Maritime Buoyage System – visit www.sealite.com to view Sealite’s IALA MBS White Paper).

The Atlantic-2600 is rotationally moulded from UV stabilised virgin polyethylene for superior service life and durability. In-house manufacturing ensures complete control of quality standards and fast lead times.

The design of the Atlantic-2600 enables each section of the buoy to be moulded in different colours to meet the IALA requirements for a cardinal mark. In this instance, the buoy bases were moulded in a black colour, with the tower sections moulded yellow for clear recognition

The extended tower section of these Atlantic-2600-ET buoys allows for a focal plane height of 4.1mts.

We included the extended tower as they were south cardinals and had a large area of black. The extended tower helped with the visual impact in a busy shipping channel, said Robert Renn.

The Atlantic-2600 is designed to sit upright on the deployment vessel’s deck with the mooring bridle, chain and block attached and ready for installation. This also improves worker’s safety on-board considerably as all buoys can be fitted up in dock, and then transported to site for deployment.

The Atlantic buoy float section mirrors the popular Nautilus-2200 design, incorporating twin channel forklift access point – increasing personnel safety, and making site manoeuvrability of the buoy the most convenient in its class.

Another reason to go for the Sealite buoys was the prompt response and receipt of buoys two weeks from order with local support if required

– Robert Renn
Sealite Business Development Manager

Benefits

• Custom designed buoy lantern tower for increased focal plane height (as per customer specifications)
• Low initial cost outlay
• Low maintenance requirements
• Superior service life
• Ease of handling and deploying due to lower overall buoy weight compared to steel buoys